Mission & Core Values

Oak Forest Academy is a new kind of preschool that combines proven approaches to early education with innovative ideas designed to improve the experience for students, teachers, and parents.

We are driven by a love for kids and the teachers who invest their time and energy helping those kids build a foundation for meaningful and impactful lives. We believe we can improve the early education system for both children and teachers, and by doing so, we can have a positive impact on not only those individuals, but also on their current communities and the communities they will serve in the future.

Mission:

At Oak Forest Academy, our mission is to prepare young learners for a lifetime of success by providing them with positive experiences to foster their academic, social, and emotional development. We believe that success means not only achieving as an individual, but also leaving a positive and lasting impression on the world around us. We will accomplish this mission by incorporating a unique blend of academic and play-based curriculums that are child-centered, inquiry-based and open-ended to foster the knowledge required for success. This approach will leverage the unique ways in which our children learn and experience the world, while providing them with the skills they need to achieve at the next academic level and beyond. When combined with a fun, nurturing, and loving environment created by our teachers and staff, we believe young children can have fun and excel academically, while at the same time develop good character and learn positive values such as honesty, integrity, and empathy.

The core values that guide our approach are as follows:

1. Curriculum – We believe children learn best when they are free to explore and use their imaginations, and they also benefit from a certain level of structure to keep them focused and growing. Therefore, we believe an effective curriculum for early education must include both academic and play-based elements, leveraging the relative benefits of each style. We also believe positive interaction with both teachers and classmates is critical, and we will strive to be flexible to accommodate the unique talents of each child.

2. Character – We believe good character is just as important as academic intelligence, and we therefore believe that children should be given the opportunity to learn and apply positive values at a very young age. This approach supports the development of children who are not only academically prepared for the next level of education, but also prepared to be good citizens and future leaders. Oak Forest Academy incorporates our character program in each classroom and all children learn these important values through role play, songs and fun games.

3. Community – Our goal is to bridge family, school, and the outside world in a way that optimizes academic growth and character development in each unique child. This starts with creating an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable environment where children are physically and emotionally secure and feel safe to explore, experience, and learn. One of the key factors in creating that environment is by investing heavily in the success of our teachers and rewarding them for their contributions. Teachers make a tremendous impact on our children, especially at this age, and we will treat them in a way that reflects this. We also provide ample opportunities for parents to be involved and to help model and reinforce the lessons learned in school. We believe that consistency is key, and we partner with parents to make sure we are all working toward the same goals.

4. Communication – We believe communication is key to success in any environment, and we encourage honest and open communication amongst the kids, parents, teachers, and staff. We value input at all levels, and we know that the most successful organizations are those that can learn and adapt. We are committed to listening, researching, and making changes that will positively impact our community.